She has her law degree from George Washington University. Her career hasn’t involved “lawyering” per see. She’s been an advisor to numerous Republican politicians, and worked mostly as a polster. Her job as a shill for an unhinged candidate has only been a recent development.

This story got noticed by Daily Kos and put on the Recommended List, and thus will be getting comments all day.

Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2016

Monday, Dec. 19, 2016

The Disunited States of Trumpistan…. ………………………………………………...This is a long article (click image below), which I really just skimmed enough to realize this again is Trump being Trump… and alienating the Secret Service in the process… the title says it all.. the older man second from the left is the head of his private security force, the man those who know call his consigliere — but almost nobody has ever heard of him. Apparently now that he’s the president-elect nobody but Secret Service and official law enforcement can carry firearms around Trump. However, the unarmed private detail has the same role as the armed agents protecting Trump. If there’s an attempt on his life, with armed agents and unarmed guards surrounding Trump, what could go wrong? Indeed!During the rallies they were the one’s taking order from Trump to remove, often forcefully, protesters. A retired Secret Service agent observing an incident where someone rushed the podium and Secret Service agents immediately surround TRUMP said this guy was way to slow to react and positioned himself in the center of the exit route. So it’s not surprising that Trump has pissed off not only the CIA, FBI, NSA, and all of our intelligence agencies, but also with what has been described as the best protective agency in the world.

“It’s playing with fire. Having a private security team working events with Secret Service increases the Service’s liability, it creates greater confusion and it creates greater risk.You never want to comingle a police function with a private security function. If you talk to the guys on the detail and the guys who are running the rallies, that’s been a little bit difficult because it’s so abnormal. I wouldn’t allow it. What are they going to do: pick a fight with the president-elect and his advisers? That’s not a way to start a romance.” Jonathan Wackrow, a former Secret Service agent who worked on President Barack Obama’s protective detail during his 2012 reelection campaign.

Sunday, Dec. 18, 2016Why hasn’t this been reported department?I doubt Trump is getting the intelligence brief even once a week.Perhaps because this is the well-known interview when Trump denied Russia was behind the hacking. The question starts at 2:30 minutes.Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.comA perhaps minor thing, but one I haven’t seen reported, is that when asked the question by an interviewer (Chris Wallace on Fox) about how often he got intelligence briefings he was given the “once a week” answer in the question: “you are getting the presidential daily brief only once a week.: Trump paused for a second before he gave a non-specific answer,“Well, I get it when I need it” followed by that he’s always available with an hour’s notice. He never specifically anywhere else— to my knowledge — said he gets them once a week. Read more here:

Sat., Dec. 17, 2016

Friday, Dec. 16, 2016

Watching Obama’s news conference. I cannot imagine Trump engaging in such a thoughtful well reasoned answering of some very tough, even provocative questions. Will Americans miss this? Only those who are able to watch live during the day will. He is being incredibly gracious giving Trump the benefit of the doubt, also in his carefully chosen words, very strategic. He talked about Trump still being in campaign mode, as if this was normal for a president-elect. He noted that his cable news surrogates were the same as from the campaign, with the implication that they had no idea what being president would entail.

Obama is a complex thinker, Trump is everything but. He speaks to smart people. Trump…. NOT.

He wants people to speak together based on “a common set of facts….” He wants voters to have “more faith in a common adversary than they do in their neighbors."

"People who think Michelle’s food and nutrition program is a greater threat to democracy than our government going after the press if they don’t like story…” That is now under attack by GOP in Congress.

Post debate discussions: How did we get to country where Putin is now okay with 1/3rd of American voters (new survey)… how did this happen… day is night, up is down, can we agree on common set of facts, can we believe in our institutions,.. Obama is going to try to persuade Trump that Russia hacked us. “Should be intentional on foreign policy.” That is not doing foreign policy on Twitter.

“Mommy, what’s a vulgarian?”

President-elect Donald Trump may have made nice with Graydon Carter‘s Condé Nast colleague Anna Wintour this week, but he wasn’t having it with the editor in chief of Vanity Fair. Carter has been a thorn in Trump’s side since his days at Spy Magazine when he branded the then mere real estate mogul a “short-fingered vulgarian.”

In typical Trumpian — but perhaps non-presidential — fashion whenever anyone criticizes him, Trump took to Twitter Thursday after Vanity Fair’s site, the Hive, lambasted the restaurant in Trump Tower in a story titled: “Trump Grill Could Be the Worst Restaurant in America.”

The president-elect wrote: “Has anyone looked at the really poor numbers of @VanityFair Magazine. Way down, big trouble, dead! Graydon Carter, no talent, will be out!”………

In a more public response, the media property tweeted in a Trumpian voice in response: “Vanity Fair: way up, big success, alive! Subscribe today!”

What likely stoked Trump’s anger were the barbs thrown into the Trump Grill story, which included a quote from Fran Lebowitz, who recently noted: “Donald Trump is a poor person’s idea of a rich person. They see him. They think, ‘If I were rich, I’d have a fabulous tie like that.'”

ICK!The surreal world is getting both scarier and weirder… just heard they are auctioning off coffee with Ivanka and the bids are up to $70,000. Ivanka, the Trump whisperer… who will probably have more influence than anyone else in the Anal Orifice. Ivanka and Daddy… about is icky as it gets.I am not being snarky calling the Oval the Anal. Those unschooled in the Freudian stages of psychosexual development may think that if Trump is fixated in any stage to would be the phallic stage. This is not only a sexual stage, but it is when the superego, or conscience, begins to develop.However, there is evidence that he is really stuck in a much earlier phase:

Anal Stage (1-3 years)

The libido now becomes focused on the anus and the child derives great pleasure from defecating. The child is now fully aware that they are a person in their own right and that their wishes can bring them into conflict with the demands of the outside world (i.e. their ego has developed).

Freud believed that this type of conflict tends to come to a head in potty training, in which adults impose restrictions on when and where the child can defecate. The nature of this first conflict with authority can determine the child's future relationship with all forms of authority.

Early or harsh potty training can lead to the child becoming an anal-retentive personality who hates mess, is obsessively tidy, punctual and respectful of authority. They can be stubborn and tight-fisted with their cash and possessions. This is all related to pleasure got from holding on to their faeces when toddlers, and their mum's then insisting that they get rid of it by placing them on the potty until they perform!

Not as daft as it sounds. The anal expulsive, on the other hand, underwent a liberal toilet-training regime during the anal stage. In adulthood the anal expulsive is the person who wants to share things with you. They like giving things away. In essence, they are 'sharing their s**t'!' An anal-expulsive personality is also messy, disorganized and rebellious. from Simple Psychology

Thurs. Dec. 15, 2016

BONUS MEME

Weds., Dec. 14, 2016

Portland news about everyone’s favorite airline:

Alaska Airlines announced Wednesday it had closed a $4 billion deal to acquire Virgin America, making the Washington-based airline the fifth largest in the world.
Alaska says the merger will now allow it to reach 118 cities in five countries. Customers will be able to buy Virgin America tickets on Alaska's website starting Monday. Passengers on both airlines will also be able to begin earning rewards on each other's flights. "Alaska Airlines and Virgin America are different airlines, but we believe different works – and we're confident fliers will agree," said Alaska CEO Brad Tilden in a statement. "Together, we'll offer more flights, with low fares, more rewards and more for customers to love, as we continue to offer a distinctive travel experience. The two airlines may look different, but our core customer and employee focus is very much the same.” from KGW TV

Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2016

Click above to read comments

Monday, Dec. 12, 2016

Gives pros the "giggles?" You think the pros actually responsible for cyber security are giggling over this coming from the next president?

If there was any doubt among teenaged computer wizzes tha Trump is ignorant, this should settle it."No one expects Putin to burst into tears on national TV and confess. Ambiguity is normal in espionage, but there shouldn’t be any doubt."James Lewis, Center for Strategic and International Studies- Something (at last) to be guardedly optimistic about:

The first thing I saw online this morning. Trump is expected to name Bolton as the number two at the State Department.

John Bolton told Fox News on Sunday that the hacks may not have been carried out by Russia, as the intelligence community believes, but implied the Obama administration itself could’ve been secretly responsible.

“It is not at all clear to me just viewing this from the outside, that this hacking into the DNC and the RNC computers was not a false flag operation,” Bolton told reporter Eric Shawn.

“False flag” is a term that refers to covert activities undertaken by a government or other entity to advance its own political agenda by making it look as if someone else did it.

“A really sophisticated foreign intelligence service would not leave any cyber fingerprints,” he said. “So the question that has to be asked is why did the Russians run their smart intelligence service against Hillary [Clinton]’s server, but their dumb intelligence services against the election?”

from what I heard, this guy is a flat out nutjob, a perfect fit for a jar of nuts cabinet in an illegitimate presidency.

Still waiting for hard evidence of who actually did the hack: since there really cannot be hard evidence of the who behind the keyboard, a forensic investigation ‘may’ be able to reveal the location, but I don’t think any of the actors who have control right now have any motivation to find out who did it. Anyone could have done it, from the kid in your basement to the Russians, Chinese or any one of the many victims of the US.

So let me see if I get this right. The Obama administration coerced the intelligence community to hack our system so it looks like the Russians did it so that Hillary would lose and then Trump gets in so that the Russians get blamed and...sorry that's as far as I can get.

“I’m like a smart person..” who happens to be grammatically challenged… in fact it is true, he is like a smart person, but he isn’t actually a smart, well informed, curious, critical thinking smart person. He’s like one because he’s convinced himself he is one.

I'd like to have been a fly on the wall when our intelligence professionals, the thousands who are tracking international crisis points and actually running operations, heard this.

Doesn't the CIA have psychologists. Or don't they want to believe the country has a presdient not all that unlike a member of a cult who can't be convinced they believe in a delusional worldview. This Scientology. Thiink the Heaven's Gate cult.Oddly, Trump is the leader of a Chairman Mao like cult, except I doubt Mao ever believed he was an earthly diety, Trump is not only the leader of his cult, he is their number one member.

I knew Allan (before he was AJ) Weberman pretty well, not a close friend, but well enough to sit with him in the Union grill at Michigan State frequently. This was in the early 1960’s. He was always writing notes about Dylan. He regaled us - our friend Paul from White Plains, my sultry and beautiful ex-wife to be, then called Dominque, and others, with his latest decoding of the meaning in Dylan’s lyrics. He took to wearing outfits similar to what Dylan wore on his album covers. He actually looked a little like Dylan. We’ve been in contact in recent years via email because we want to learn what happened to another friend, an unlikely one at that, who was Mr. Michigan two years in a row. Internet searches turn up nothing on him.

Allan was among a large group of New Yorkers Michigan State recruited based in part on our high test scores and low high school grades. I think our freshman class was 6% from the NYC area, and most of us knew each other. We were, in all modesty, very smart although not the best students.

This was all before the anti-war protests. But none-the-less the New Yorkers and some rebellious Michigan students formed a group called “The Byzantine Anarchist Party.” I don’t know if Allen was a “member” since his focus was on studying Dylan, but even in those days Michigan State had a subculture of non-conforming students.

Of course it became a major anti-war university, one of the five state universities described in the book “Campus Wars.”

The big question being discussed this weekend is whether Congress will have the integrity to pursue the CIA information about Russia interfering in the election to help Trump.

But for congressional Republicans, the evidence is increasingly getting to the point where they simply can’t ignore it, and some of them are feeling compelled to act — in a way that Trump isn’t likely to embrace.

Many Republicans are undoubtedly concerned about this. But as long as Trump is holding fast to the idea that this is all made up in an effort to undermine him, this whole thing could reinforce the long-standing chasm within the GOP, with him and his base pitted against establishment Republicans who will (again) be made to look like they’re trying to take down their outsider president-elect. And you can bet that’ll be how Trump pitches it.

It all presents a possibly inauspicious start for the GOP Congress in the Trump era: a potential Trump vs. congressional-Republicans-battle over the same election that surprisingly installed him as president. Washington Post

The image stains and intrudes like a telltale bite mark after a wild night. Mitt Romney, former Donald Trump detractor, breaking bread (or crab cakes, which is what billionaires must eat instead of bread) with a man he once called a phony and a fraud.

In the photo, Romney is a human wince. Next to him, his former nemesis grins impishly. They are lit from below, as though they are in hell. Donald Trump is really enjoying this.

But Trump's behavior with his enemies since his surprise electoral victory on November 8 lends a new descriptor to the president-elect. He's a dominatrix. A shitty one.

A professional dominatrix would never subject her clients to non-consensual pain. But in his political foes-cum-sycophants, Trump seems to have found willing subs, political masochists who keep coming back for more.

Thank you, sir. May I have a cabinet post?

The article makes a good story, but it’s wrong. A true professional dominatrix (and I have met one socially) doesn’t get any particular pleasure in humiliating clients. That’s the realm of the amateur. We don’t know whether he and his sexual partners enjoyed this kind of sex.What we have observed in the behaviors common in sadists. They count on their victims not enjoying being humiliated.

It must be said that the most plausible explanation for Trump’s angry tweets and erratic behavior is that he’s angry and erratic. But Trump does come from the real estate world, where bluster and theatrical threats are standard negotiating strategy; he once advised a U.S. arms-control negotiator to arrive late at a meeting with the Soviets, then stick a finger in his counterpart’s chest and say: “Fuck you!” And in a speech in April, he suggested that the biggest problem with U.S. foreign policy is that the rest of the world always knows exactly what we’re going to do. “We as a nation must be more unpredictable,” Trump said. “We are totally predictable … We have to be unpredictable, starting now.”

It ought to be said: Presidents shouldn’t behave like that. It’s disturbing when Trump uses his platform to punch down at citizens who happen to disagree with him, to bully critical journalists and activists and even comedy shows. Trump really shouldn’t launch insulting Twitter tirades that make him sound unhinged, even if he’s just doing it for effect, even if he’s just hitting the mascot to send an intimidating message.But the alternative is even more disturbing: Maybe this pitcher keeps hitting the mascot because he doesn’t have very good control. Maybe he's Nuke without Crash. Maybe he's about to be Nuke with nukes.Article on Politco

Thursday, Dec. 8, 2016

Okay, enough already… just when you think it can’t get anymore surreal…. Steve Fucken Bannon as his whatever, Linda McMahon at SBA, a climate change denier at EPA, a wife beating misogynist burger magnate at Labor, a National Security Advisor who is a conspiracy theory nut job, and now this, which I had to make sure wasn’t on The Onion:

No wonder Trump feels an affinity for his choice the head the Labor Department. These are ads for Andy Puddler’s Carl’s Jr. hamburger joint:

Weds, Dec. 7, 2016

This may be the scariest news. The most recent poll (Bloomberg) shows Trump with a 50% favorability rating. This means that half the country either doesn’t care about the issues we care about, or that at least many of them haven’t been paying attention, or that they are are gullible, credulous, naive, overtrusting, easily deceived, easily taken in, exploitable, dupable, impressionable, unsuspecting, unsuspicious, unwary, ingenuous, innocent, inexperienced suckers.. (Thanks thesaurus) In other words, they are the huckster’s delight.So Tweet away Trump, hire conspiracy believing nutcases and incompetents. Half the country doesn’t care.

Just a thought —

In the featured photo, this is the message sent to the world. Arab kings and Princes will admire him.

He deserves to be Time's person of the year, and doesn't realize that it is downright embarrassing to have the article about him start out like this:

Even for Donald Trump, the distance is still fun to think about, up here in his penthouse 600 ft. in the sky, where it’s hard to make out the regular people below. The ice skaters swarming Central Park’s Wollman Rink look like old-television static, and the Fifth Avenue holiday shoppers could be mites in a gutter. To even see this view, elevator operators, who spend their days standing in place, must push a button marked 66–68, announcing all three floors of Trump’s princely pad. Inside, staff members wear cloth slipcovers on their shoes, so as not to scuff the shiny marble or stain the plush cream carpets.

This is, in short, not a natural place to refine the common touch. It’s gilded and gaudy, a dreamscape of faded tapestry, antique clocks and fresco-style ceiling murals of gym-rat Greek gods. The throw pillows carry the Trump shield, and the paper napkins are monogrammed with the family name. His closest neighbors, at least at this altitude, are an international set of billionaire moguls who have decided to stash their money at One57 and 432 Park, the two newest skyscrapers to remake midtown Manhattan. There is no tight-knit community in the sky, no paperboy or postman, no bowling over brews after work.

And yet here Trump resides, under dripping crystal, with diamond cuff links, as the President-elect of the United States of America. The Secret Service agents milling about prove that it really happened, this election result few saw coming. Hulking and serious, they gingerly try to stay on the marble, avoiding the carpets with their uncovered shoes. On his wife Melania’s desk, next to books of Gianni Versace’s fashions and Elizabeth Taylor’s jewelry, a new volume sits front and center: The White House: Its Historic Furnishings and First Families.

This is, in short, not a natural place to refine the common touch. It’s gilded and gaudy, a dreamscape of faded tapestry, antique clocks and fresco-style ceiling murals of gym-rat Greek gods. The throw pillows carry the Trump shield, and the paper napkins are monogrammed with the family name. His closest neighbors, at least at this altitude, are an international set of billionaire moguls who have decided to stash their money at One57 and 432 Park, the two newest skyscrapers to remake midtown Manhattan. There is no tight-knit community in the sky, no paperboy or postman, no bowling over brews after work.And yet here Trump resides, under dripping crystal, with diamond cuff links, as the President-elect of the United States of America. The Secret Service agents milling about prove that it really happened, this election result few saw coming. Hulking and serious, they gingerly try to stay on the marble, avoiding the carpets with their uncovered shoes. On his wife Melania’s desk, next to books of Gianni Versace’s fashions and Elizabeth Taylor’s jewelry, a new volume sits front and center: The White House: Its Historic Furnishings and First Families.

I am not sure Trump has much understanding of what the Attorney General actually does. The same goes for most if not all of the Cabinet possitions. I think he selected Sessions because he was a loyal soldier and that's what Sessions wanted. Trump doesn't grasp that the way he campaigned started a POLITICAL CULTURE WAR. I think his generals could explain the hard learned lesson that unless we have been attacked, we don't engage in a war that 1) WE CAN'T WIN and 2) A WAR WE DON'T HAVE A VIABLE EXIT STRATEGY for. I doubt Trump understands what will happen with the changing federal marijuana practices.

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There will he negative ramifactions for him. It will effect his popularity, and we know how important this is to him.

Whether he yet suffers the aches and pains and loss of energy that often hits between the ages of 70 and 80 is debatable. He certainly doesn't have the physique he did in his New York City playboy days. This leads me to question whether we wants to push for someone as his top cop who is arguably viewed by the younger generations as a rigid old fart enmeshed in 1950's attitudes about marijuana.

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Alienating younger voters will also lessen the chances for maintaining a Republican majority in Congress and in the state houses.

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Is anyone naive enough to think that nobody in Trump's rally audience between the ages of 16 and 36 has never smoked marijuana? I bet a poll would show that the percentages of casual and regular marijuana used were similar between Clinton and Trump supporters.

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Marijuana enforcement in states where recreational pot is legal will cause chaos in the Department of Justice. They will have to reassign resources away from far more serious investigations and enforcement endeavors. This will also overwhelm the federal court system since these will all be federal rather than state cases.

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Where recreational marijuana is illegal there are strong links between it's distribution and criminal enterprises, many of which probably are engaged in the trafficking addictive drugs. In those states it makes sense for the DEA and state law enforcement to focus resources in an attempt to apprehend those true criminals. I think federal and local law enforcement in states where recreational marijuana is legal are relieved that they can devote personnel to actually crushing crime.

It’s impossible to drive anywhere in Portland without being a few minutes away from a pot store.

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A personal note. I live in Portland, Oregon. I hadn’t used marijuana since college, but when it became legal here I tried it, and even the far more potent varieties did nothing for me. However, here in progressive Portland, a sanctuary city, there are over 100 thriving cannabis stores. Our local law enforcement will do nothing to help federal endeavors to round up our undocumented residents. Likewise, I can’t see them doing anything to assist federal agents in any attempts to crack down on our popular marijuana industry.

I agree we must be cognizant of our audience or intended audience when we address the ramifications of Trump and Trumpism. I also think ranting isn’t an effective mode of persuasion. Trump ranted, and continues to rant via his Tweets but his intended audience eat it up. For us ranting isn’t meant to convince anybody of anything, it is a way to vent which for some people, like me, it is sometimes therapeutic.

I’m at Willamette View along with many other liberal seniors on this email list. Staff here are warned not to engage in political discussions with residents, but I do talk with one staff member who feels as strongly as I do. The other day we happened to be going down the stairs by Waterfalls and were venting about Trump’s latest insanity. As I got more agitated I realized there was a glorious echo in the stairwell and it really felt good to have my voice amplified in an unreal way — “he’s fucken crazy” sounded good.

Some of what I write is serious, but some sarcastic. My intention is always to communicate, but if I wanted to persuade I’d try to get published on another venue. My language is unrestrained by good manners and civility in some of what I write. In other articles, it is Sunday school serious. I do try to be brief for the sake of clarity and, of course, and also to make it more likely readers won’t miss my main points.

The country is so divided that it is extremely difficult to reach the other side. Fox News preaches to their choir, MSNBC to their choir. I never watch Fox, and I rather doubt Fox viewers watch MSNBC.

Some of them do watch Saturday Night Live, especially now that Trump is giving the show priceless publicity with his Tweets. As good for us as Tina Fey’s Sarah Palin impressions were, she wasn’t running for president. Alex Baldwin, who now has a four year gig playing Trump, and the cast and writers, may have more impact on Trump voters than anything else.

Writing about what allies and adversaries think when they see how Trump reacts to the SNL sketches is worth an entire article. (see the cartoons and my captions below)

Everybody should watch last night’s SNL sketch and read Trump’s Tweet. It is beyond chilling to realize we have a president-to-be who is so — not thin skinned — but mentally unstable — that he continues to Tweet just weeks before he’s going to be sworn in as president. I wrote more than 20 articles, as a psychotherapist, opining on his psychiatric diagnosis. There is no one diagnosis to describe him. When I write as a mental health professional I keep my language technical. When I write informally I sum his personality up as being batshit crazy.

SATURDAY, Dec. 3, 2016

Morning/mourning images augmented by HB:

During a campaign rally in Toledo, Ohio, Donald Trump referred to inner city communities as ghettos while explaining how he would help low-income African Americans more than Hillary Clinton.

From Politico article: Bull in a China Shop (great title): Given China’s sensitivity about the status of Taiwan, Trump's call could provoke an early diplomatic crisis with Beijing. Trump has already publicly pledged to get tough on China, regularly railing against the country's trade policies on the campaign trail.
Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy on Friday immediately warned of dire consequences from Trump's actions.
"What has happened in the last 48 hours is not a shift. These are major pivots in foreign policy w/out any plan. That's how wars start," Murphy said on Twitter. "And if they aren't pivots - just radical temporary deviations - allies will walk if they have no clue what we stand for. Just as bad."
But Bill Bishop, a longtime China hand, questioned the instant consensus that Chinese leader Xi Jinping would respond with blind fury -- rather than calculated opportunism. "Xi may be angry over the Trump-Tsai call but he may also be happy with the opportunity it presents," he tweeted. "Beijing loves being given pretexts."
"Strategy involves thinking more than one move ahead. No evidence of that here,” wrote Aaron Friedberg, an Asia expert who worked in the Bush White House under Vice President Dick Cheney. "Whatever the truth Beijing much more likely to read this as deliberate provocation/test than a blunder.” Read entire article on Politico

President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday appeared as if he never ended his campaign, attacking “the extremely dishonest media,” boasting about his “landslide” victory, and dashing speculation he might pivot and start acting like a president. At a rally in Ohio billed as the beginning of a “thank-you tour,” Trump repeatedly pledged to unite the country and “find common ground.” But his rhetoric, almost word for word, matched the raucous and incendiary rallies of his campaign. from Huffington Post

Thank goodness Trump can't act. The Trump you see is the Trump that is. If he could "act" presidential he'd still be the same Trump we saw throughout the campaign, in his Tweetstorms, insults, thin skinned personality, lies and so on, and on, and on. If he could act presidential many, perhaps most people, would engage in wishful thinking.

Unless they're depressed, most people are optimists. Even people struggling to get by economically buy lottery tickets. This is the time for pessimism among progressives, because that is the only way you can feel when you are a realist. Even many Trump supporters, now reveling in joy, would be pessimistcs if they knew anything about what it will be like even for them to live in a faciscist state run by a demagog. They think their lives will be better. They aren't even sure what better means beyond feeling that they, as less educated whites, will be able to maintain the illusion that they are superior.

They have fallen for the con, they are under the thrall of someone they see as their savior. They easily dismissed his pussy grabbing, supported his racist and xenophobic rants, didn't care that he was living a hedonistic and gaudy lifestile that reeks of ostenatious privilege.

They don't care that he is bilking the tax payers by keeping his wife and son at Trump Towers, and they don't care about the conflicts of interest between his presidency and this businesses. In fact, if you add up all the reasons Democrats thought would derail his campaign, for those who voted for him they added up to zero.

As I watch MSNBC I find that it seems to finally be dawning on commentators that the campaigning Trump was the act, a brilliant strategy to put together a coalition of deplorables and decent Republicans who didn’t believe that raving rally egotist could be a real life person. It had to be a schtick, nobody who could be a success in business could be so addicted to the adoration of the crowd.

Now it’s only a matter of time for those rational Republicans who supported him to have a well deserved case of buyer’s remorse.

Now its time for Democrats to prepare for the worst case, 33 years late, 1984 is coming.

Now it’s time for the media to get serious.

Thursday, Dec. 1, 2016

Good deal if it brings back Tina Fey…

Weds. Nov. 30, 2016

Do you think MI-6 will hire me to join their American psychological analysis unit which is doubtlessly trying to figure out what is going on with Trump, and what may be a deteriorating mental disorder.Trump is conveniently providing psychotherapists with an unfiltered view into his psyche through his Tweets.Winter in London, maybe a nice little cottage in the countryside. Of course they'd have to expedite my bringing Mac and Duff:

President-elect Donald Trump said Wednesday he’s leaving his business “in total,” but provided no details about who would take over.

“While I am not mandated to do this under the law, I feel it is visually important, as President, to in no way have a conflict of interest with my various businesses. ... Hence, legal documents are being crafted which take me completely out of business operations. The Presidency is a far more important task!” Trump said in a series of tweets posted Wednesday morning.

When I never thought Trump had a chance of winning I enjoyed sticking it to him in snarky stories (aka diaries). Alas, now things are deadly serious.

Of the 200 stories I wrote, the most serious were always the ones I wrote from the perspective of a therapist. The two most recent (top right) were about the mental instability demonstrated by his Tweets over the past couple of days. Al in all I wrote about 20 pieces about the mental health of Trump.

A few tidbits from a psychotherapist’s online forum I being to:

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To illustrate a story when it was rumored that Kellyanne
Conway dissuaded Trump from Tweeting.

What are the safeguards to prevent the most dangerous abuses to civil liberties? Are there any? Is there a point where the Republicans in Congress will say enough is enough and initiate impeachment proceedings. As I see it, this is the only way to stop the Trump juggernaut . Using the powers of Congress to stop the most egregious threats to democracy may not be enough since the president has so many powers to act unilaterally. Even a four star general is subordinate to him. The final word in the Situation Room on the raid that killed Osama bin Laden was Obama giving the go ahead.

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How can Trump be removed from office? —

He can do something impeachable, some sort of accepting a bribe would be most likely, but that would be an excuse to remove him because they see he is mentally deteriorating, and has become both and embarrassment to the party, but also to the country as we attempt to remain the leader of the free world. Such an impeachment would be a face saving alternative to trying to remove him because he is medically impaired.: Article 2, Section 1 of the Constitution: In case of the removal of the President from office, or of his death, resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said office the same shall devolve on the Vice President, and the Congress may by law provide for the Case of Removal, death, resignation or inability, both of the President and Vice President, declaring what officer shall then act as President, and such officer shall act accordingly, until the disability be removed, or a President shall be elected.

******

Kellyanne and Steve Cortes move over:

Another cringe worthy shill, campaign senior communications advisor is the chinless Jason Miller… now on MSNBC it’s as if he’s talking about a reasonable president elect… smiling away… waffling away of whether to take a flag burners citizenship away… the moderator is asking again and again whether a person should have their citizenship stripped… and again and again this weasel shill avoid… and one of the moderators ends with “I have to admit I am very frustrated” meaning frustrated with his refusing to answer the citizenship question. Interviewers can stop giving when these flunkies try to play back-a-mole, in fact they should get a bigger heavier mallet the more they try to avoid a straight forward question. Take that Kellyanne Conway…

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On MSNBC:

Barney Frank thinks all the Trump craziness is part of a calculated strategy to both pander to his supporters and deflect attention away from other matters he is under scrutiny for. Sorry, Barney, I agree with you on most issues, but you’re no psychologist. Michael Steele thinks Trump is shrewd and working the angles. Chris Mathews isn’t buying it. It bothers me when laymen think they can get into the mind of Trump. The only one who has done so accurately so far is Tony Schwartz, who wrote “Art of the Deal.”

******

Between the mental instability and belief in easily debunked absurdist conspiracy theories demonstrated by Tweets about the popular vote being stolen , the flag burning being punished by revoking citizenship, and his planned victory lap (his cross country rally tour, holy shit who does he think he is Elvis)… added to the fact he is the spawn of a reincarnated Klara Pölzl Hitler… democracy is in for a dangerous four years.

******

For fellow psychotherapists:

Depending on our intended audience, and when we think it beneficial to present ourselves as experts, I think we can be most influential if we describe what we see in Trump’s behavior that shows him to be mentally unfit to be president. Now that his narcissism is the least of our worries, it matters not that any of us explain that diagnosis. He is beyond conventional diagnosis whether you think the DSM has utility to your own understanding of psychodynamics. Of course, the DSM is a backwards cookbook where you look at the ingredients and try to name the dish so you can fill out an insurance form. We can help lay people understand that what we see as experts is someone who must not be trusted with the responsibilities he’s about to assume. If we don’t offer more in depth explanations, our words may not have the same impact as they could if we write as students of the mind.

*****

​If you’re a psychotherapist who wants to join a Facebook group to discuss Trump, send me a message.

Just some thoughts:What happens if President Trump goes completely off the rails, either psychologically or though using the power of the president in reckless and/or undemocratic ways which cause the majority of the population to want him out of the White House. What if those who voted for him have a severe case of buyer’s remorse?How can he be removed from office?He can do something impeachable, some sort of accepting a bribe would be most likely, but as long as the Republicans wanted him in office there’s no chance impeachment hearing would be initiated. Using impeachment would be an excuse for Republicans to remove him because they see he is mentally deteriorating, and has become both and embarrassment to the party, but also to the country as we attempt to remain the leader of the free world. Such an impeachment would be a face saving alternative to trying to remove him because he is medically impaired.Article 2, Section 1 of the Constitution says:In case of the removal of the President from office, or of his death, resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said office the same shall devolve on the Vice President, and the Congress may by law provide for the Case of Removal, death, resignation or inability, both of the President and Vice President, declaring what officer shall then act as President, and such officer shall act accordingly, until the disability be removed, or a President shall be elected.The above incorporated language from the 20th amendment: 4. The Congress may by law provide for the case of the death of any of the persons from whom the House of Representatives may choose a President whenever the right of choice shall have devolved upon them, and for the case of the death of any of the persons from whom the Senate may choose a Vice President whenever the right of choice shall have devolved upon them.….and the 25th amendment:4. Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.Even Fox condemns it. Click if video doesn’t play:

As if there needed to be more proof that Trump is mentally unstable, consider his unprecedented ego building post-election tour. I doubt the Secret Service is happy about this:In a highly unprecedented move, President-elect Donald Trump will take part in a “victory tour” to thank his fans and supporters, beginning with a rally Thursday night in Cincinnati. The “thank-you” tour will likely feature the same color and rhetorical flourish of the campaign rallies leading up to the election, in which Trump often made off-the-cuff remarks to rile up his fanbase while attacking those perceived as enemies. George Gigicos, director of the campaign’s advance team, told reporters Nov. 17 that Trump will travel “obviously to the states that we won and the swing states we flipped over,” which would presumably include Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. Gigicos called the event a “thank-you tour,” and attempted to correct any reporters who more accurately described the ostentatious set of rallies as a “victory tour.”Read in PoliticoAfter you’ve read the story below (“We stand on the precipice) read this follow-up on even more Trump Tweets.

And then today, yet another TweetHis latest Tweet about flag burning is being discussed on MSNBC. While not indicative of his brittle narcissistic defenses like his Tweets about how he really won the popular vote, it still is of serious concern because it shows a total lack of comprehension of settled law. It also shows how reactive he is, how his Tweets seem to be issued without any forethought as to the consequences. It also shows he has no memory of the days when flag burning was a common way to protest the Vietnam War and when it was litigated in the 1980’s and found to be covered under the First Amendment. I read that this Tweet was promoted by a piece Trump watched on Fox News that showed protesters burning a flag.

One way to look at burning the flag is that it is more than a protest, but it is an affirmation of the basic principles on which our country was founded. It is no accident that the First Amendment was the first amendment on the 10 ratified in 1790. It preceded the beloved by the right Second Amendment. It may seem counter-intuitive to suggest this, and let’s face it understanding counter-intuitive behavior isn’t the forte of the far right and it’s leader Donald J. Trump. If you burn the flag you may be demonstrating a love for America and the founding principles we found wars to protect.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.Monday, Nov. 28, 20161:00 AMThis is on Daily Kos where you can comment and read comments.

This article got a coveted place on the Daily Kos
recommended list.

I woke up and my mind was racing about this latest Tweet and what it means. I knew I wouldn’t fall asleep unless I got up to write… I was trying to think what I personally could do as far as writing to get the word out as to what this means. How can a mere retired social worker in Oregon alert the electoral college, or Pence, or the APA, to take action .

The first indication that Trump had a delusional paranoid aspect to his personality came when he believed that thousands of Muslims cheer the fall of the Twin Towers from across the river in New Jersey. Trump discussed this on the Alex Jones radio show. Jones believes that the 9-11 attack was an “inside job.”

——————below from Business Insider---------

In his very first question to Trump, Jones asked about the attacks.
Jones declared that Trump has been repeatedly "vindicated" in his widely disputed claim that thousands Muslims in New Jersey celebrated as the World Trade Center buildings fell.
"I knew it happened and I held my line. People wanted me to apologize, and we can't do that. People like you and me can't do that so easily," Trump told Jones from his Trump Tower office in New York.

---------
This defied all logic because if such an unlikely event occurred the local press would have reported it. Rational people know there aren’t thousands of radical America hating Muslims in New Jersey, and probably not even in the entire United States.

But Trump got away with this indication of pathological and delusional thinking because, well, he had already become The Donald and people expected outrageous untruths and exaggerations from him.

He’s gotten away with not believing in climate change, and cited the unscientific reason in his recent New York Times sit-down: “You know the hottest day ever was in 1890-something, 98. You know, you can make lots of cases for different views. I have a totally open mind… it’s a very complex subject. I’m not sure anybody is ever going to really know.”

Now we have a another indication that he is unable to engage in critical thinking, and far worse (if that’s possible) he has a serious delusional part of his psyche. He believes manifestly impossible statements coming from the prime purveyor of conspiracy theories in the United States, Alex Jones.

We are appalled at his selection of Steve Bannon, whose stock in trade is publishing hateful articles. However, as much as we don’t want to, we can excuse Bannon for doing this out of bigotry and greed. At least he isn’t dealing in conspiracy theories that appeal to those who are mentally ill because they support their delusions.

But Bannon isn’t a conspiracy believer, Jones is. And now we have further proof that the president elect is as well.

It is impossible that there could have been a vast conspiracy to get millions of illegal immigrants to vote for Hillary. It defies all logic. However, it fits into Trump’s need to protect his ego, to be a winner not matter how he can bend and distort the facts to admit to himself he lost, in the case the popular vote.

It matters little whether we come up with a psychiatric diagnosis for Trump. What matters is that the one person we count on to have the intellect and rationality to make difficult decisions, sometimes on short notice, believes what he needs to believe in order to bolster his ego.

The safety of the country and the world now hangs in the balance. When the international community puts two and two together after this Tweet they will be even more wary of Trump than they are now.

This is beyond appalling. We must do what we can rally those who have more credibility than we do to take this seriously.

The American Psychiatric Association must break their silence, perhaps take out a full page ad in the New York Times, and explain why this easily influenced conspiracy believing man must not be president.

Mike Pence should step down and explain that in good conscience he cannot serve with such a man.

Trump’s own children should pressure him to resign once he’s sworn in.

Finally, the Electoral College meets on December 19th. There’s still time for them to come to their senses and keep this manifestly impulsive delusional conspiracy believer from being president.

Trump is a malignant narcissist, which means among all the characteristics of those with this personality disorder, he lacks a capacity for empathy and is incapable of introspection.

Excerpts: Donald Trump, and the Republican majorities in the Senate, are poised to wipe out the signature victories of his predecessor in areas ranging from health care to the environment. He will enter office as the first explicitly anti-free trade president since Herbert Hoover, committed to unraveling a series of agreements that underpin the root assumptions of global commerce. His list of potential Supreme Court nominees include judges who reject not simply the jurisprudence that led to the gay marriage and abortion decisions, but the arguments that led the Court to uphold New Deal legislation some 80 years ago and to bind states to the protections of the Bill of Rights.-… the idea of a Republican House and Senate acting as a brake on Trump seems almost fanciful. Yes, Rand Paul’s civil libertarian and anti-globalist impulses may lead him to oppose a nomination of an Attorney General Jeff Sessions or a Secretary of State John Bolton. But his would be a lonely voice—especially given the fact that the Republican base is in the hands, at least for now, of an incoming President who won by running head-on against the congressional wing of the party.-Is it odd that a Ronald Reagan, who won historic landslides, could change so little while a president who “lost” by a million or more votes might change so much? Chalk it up to the quirks of the Electoral College, or a late intervention by an FBI director, or a tone-deaf Democratic candidate, or to a simmering fury at the political-media elite by just enough disaffected voters to turn three states red, or to whatever contingent forces you choose. But the reality is those forces have brought us to the very real prospect of the most profound, unsettling changes in public policy in close to a century.Joy Reid, on MSNBC, is doing a story about how Scots feel about Trump… she showed this newspaper:

We keep reading about the possibility that Trump will make major changes to policy that the majority of Americans don’t support. Some fly in the face of logic, climate change for example, and others in attitudes about issues like abortion and most forms of birth control.

We read today on Daily Kos that a radical anti-abortion group is ready to help Attorney General designate Jeff Sessions prosecute Planned Parenthood. Most Americans support Planned Parenthood.

We have a president that supposedly has no objection to same sex marriage but a vice president that doesn’t, and who actually believes in conversion therapy. Most Americans support same sex marriage and know that sexual orientation is not changeable by therapy.

I don’t have time to find citations for the following, but I hope the polling statistics back up my conclusions. Even if “most” isn’t exactly correct, I would say that it can be said that a significant number, i.e., close to 50%, feel this way about these issues.

Can you think of any more besides the following?

Most Americans don’t want us using torture.

Most don’t believe in a registry for Muslims.

Most don’t think undocumented children should be deported.

Most don’t think Hillary did anything that should end her up in prison.

Most don’t think we should undo the newly established relationship with Cuba.

Most don’t want the most important parts of Obamacare rescinded.

Most won’t want the wall to be built if it increases the deficit.

Most don’t want the very rich to have a tax cut.

Most don’t want us out of NATO.

By far most want medical marijuana both legalized and researched.

Most want recreational marijuana to be legal.

At least most seniors or soon to be seniors do not want Medicare privatized.

7/28: Just thought of a new one: Most veterans do not want the VA privatized.

The more unpopular changes Trump makes, the less he will have the nation’s support.

He ran like he didn’t care what half the nation thought, what the most educated segment of the population thought about him, and what the press thought. But now he is about to be president of all of us.

I doubt he really will feel good just because he’s admired by thepeople who buy the National Enquirer, which as of this week is blaring “Trump Must Build That Wall” on its front cover (I was at the supermarket this morning). Plus, when he doesn’t build the wall, even those people will be angry at him.

The power of the president through executive order and through the various departments is vast. He has the power to royally fuck up the country and the world. In doing so may find the adoration he enjoyed from his supporters has eroded to the point where this narcissistic who thrives on admiration may not be able to maintain his psychological equilibrium.

My fellow psychotherapists know that the ego of a narcissist is fragile, and that even a successful boisterous blowhard like Trump has a breaking point. We can expect protests around the country, marches on Washington, ever more irreverent SNL sketches, and more snarky New York Daily News front pages. There are likely to be continued investigations and revelations about his conflicts of interest. He will be called out on every unpresidential utterance and Tweet.

Even his poor grammar will be mocked: "I join the many Cuban Americans who supported me so greatly in the presidential campaign….” “So greatly!”

I expect that we’ll see failures of signature programs so obvious that even Fox News has to report on them.

My online support group of psychotherapists debate whether deep down inside, or as we say, in the unconscious, Trump just wants to get the love he never received from his parents. He certainly seems to need to be admired and thought to be the smartest and best looking person in the room, irritable to attractive women and worthy of fealty from powerful men.

When Trump looses all this he could become a dangerous president.

Back from the emporium of stuff, Fred Meyer’s (right), I still don’t have an original thought worth sharing, so will offer a good quote:

This election, American voters elected a con man, a swindler, a bluster bag who articulated a twisted set of mores and a horrific vision for our country. In fact, that Pew graph effectively shows voters knew exactly what they were doing and did it anyway.

The inescapable message was that a candidate being overtly racist, sexist, and downright ignorant and unqualified was forgivable and even laudable as long as he wasn't a she.Any Trump voter who is now surprised by what they get from his administration—whether it be in the form of horrors they didn't take seriously or broken promises they had counted on—will be getting exactly what they asked for and deserve. By Kerry Eleveld, "The rampant sexism of 2016 and the law of unintended consequences."

Romney, for his part, who remains interested in the role, “is taking all of this stuff in stride, and would like to serve the country,” according to a person in his orbit who has spoken to him since he met with Trump last week. The person denied published reports that Romney was drafting a formal apology for his comment during the GOP primaries that the developer-turned-reality-TV-star was a “phony, a fraud,” who was “playing members of the American public for suckers.”

The idea of forcing Romney to sign some kind of mea culpa is being mulled by transition officials hostile to his nomination, several senior Republicans said.
Even less clear is where Trump’s increasingly influential son-in-law Jared Kushner, a fierce supporter of Israel, stands on the candidates. Transition sources told POLITICO Kushner has said broadly positive things about both men,

As that battle plays out, there are indications advocates for both candidates may be losing – and that the Trump team is looking to Petraeus, the four-star general who served as President Obama’s director of the Central Intelligence Agency until 2012 when he was removed for sharing classified documents with a biographer who was also his mistress.

My hunch is that Gen. Petraeus will be the eventual selection.I haven’t thought of anything to write about yet. I’m sitting here waiting for inspiration:

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What do I think about and what I do I think about it?

May, 1, 2016

I migrated everything from April to the basement file cabinet, so fitting of Spring, this blog starts anew, unfortunately, again it’s Trump on my mind. The archives for the two months I have been sharing cyberspace with billions of bloggers are below.

If you are a new reader, welcome. I do this blog alone, but always welcome critiques and ideas from you, I mean you, whoever is actually reading these words.